This week is National Library Week. It also marks the beginning of a legal battle between Californiab and the Trump administration over cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) — a small federal agency that oversees grant funding and other functions that are instrumental to maintaining the country’s museum collections, libraries and other cultural heritage preservation projects.

“Free and open to all, each of (California’s) 1,127 public libraries is a community hub for education and lifelong learning, health and wellness, civic engagement and workforce and economic development,” Eleni Kounalakis, acting governor of California, said in a proclamation declaring National Library Week, issued at the beginning of this week. “Libraries are gateways not just to learning but to new opportunities and ideas. Our state’s public libraries provide hundreds of thousands of programs each year and continually evolve and adapt to the needs of all Californians.”Last week, though, virtually all IMLS staff were put on indefinite administrative leave after a meeting with representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), effectively freezing one of the state’s largest source of library funds.

An IMLS employee confirmed to the Times-Standard, on background, that the organization’s approximately 70 staffers were escorted out of their Washington, D.C., headquarters and informed that they were on administrative leave as of March 31. Later, approximately a dozen staffers were brought back into the office under acting director Keith Sonderling to serve the most basic functions of the institute as required by law.

The institution subsequently issued declarations to states, suspending funding to state library systems.

“The California State Library has been notified by the federal … (IMLS) that, effective April 1, 2025, the 2024-25 federal grant awarded under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) has been terminated,” the state library system noted in a press release. “In the current fiscal year … the State Library received $15,705,702 in funding to assist local California libraries to provide programs and services, as well as supporting the services provided by the State Library to state government, policymakers and the public. Over 21% of that funding has yet to be sent to California.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in conjunction with 20 other state AGs, sued the Trump administration, arguing that the executive order that necessitated the IMLS closure is unlawful.

“The Trump Administration is once again violating the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law by attempting to unilaterally shut down agencies the President doesn’t like, including agencies that give the public access to facts, knowledge and cultural heritage for free or at low cost,” said Bonta, in a press release.

Humboldt County

In Humboldt County, a variety of institutions rely on IMLS funding — as well as services provided through the IMLS.

Services like inter-library loans are largely funded through IMLS, as are important digitization projects and digital services at institutions like Cal Poly Humboldt. Local museums like the Morris Graves Museum of Art have used IMLS funding in the past, and they take advantage of many of the resources the institution makes available to train staff on how to maintain a museum collection.

Tribal organizations are also beneficiaries of IMLS funding, which they use to build and maintain libraries, museums and cultural centers, as well as undertake important cultural preservation projects.

Michelle Vassel, tribal administrator for the Wiyot Tribe, told the Times-Standard that IMLS funding was critical not just to the tribe’s local library, but also to many of the Wiyot’s cultural preservation efforts — particularly efforts to archive and digitize material related to Soulatluk, the Wiyot language.

“The tribe has used IMLS funds for various reasons; one is our tribal library,” Vassel explained. “We’ve also used IMLS funds to archive our cultural resources … I think the largest way we’ve used IMLS funding is for the reinstitution of our Soulatluk language.”

Without IMLS funding, Vassel said that the Wiyot’s native language restoration projects will largely cease existing. That funding has been used to create a Soulatluk dictionary and is currently being used to aggregate Wiyot place names via a digital map and make those traditional names available to the public.

“We’re one of the lucky tribes that has a lot of digital archives and digital records of Soulatluk language, but these are hand-written files and old wax recordings and things like that, so the IMLS funds really helps us to take that information from various sources and to pay for someone, a linguist, who can translate it into various usable forms,” Vassel said.

Since IMLS staff has been placed on administrative leave, Vassel said, the tribe has been left in limbo, unable to access grants and unsure if they will be able to continue its important cultural preservation work.

“Every American might not be excited about restoring Soulatluk, but I can tell you that every Wiyot person is,” Vassel said. “Having the ability to restore the Soulatluk language is really important to Wiyot people … I can’t say it’s the end of the Soulatluk language program; we will continue to move forward however we can, but it’s definitely going to hinder our ability to do those kinds of things.”

The Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria likewise uses IMLS funds to resource and administer the community’s library. Frozen funds, according to a statement provided to the Times-Standard by Amy Atkins and Jacque Hostler-Carmesin, may mean that the library will be unable to complete an ongoing remodeling project, leaving the library essentially empty.

“Currently the Trinidad Rancheria Library has both a basic grant and an enhancement grant through IMLS, and it is unclear as to whether or not the funds will be available to support the work that we proposed,” the Trinidad Rancheria noted in a news release. “The enhancement grant funding awarded in 2024 is intended to be used to furnish the library as we are in the midst of a long-awaited remodel. Without those funds, the Tribe will be left with an empty building and will no longer be able to provide our community or the public with access to this important resource.

“IMLS grant applications for 2026 are due in April 2025 and without IMLS staff to administer awards, it seems as though all future work is in jeopardy. Reports in the media suggest that most grants will be terminated. Unfortunately, we have not received any communication from IMLS regarding the status of our open awards and are left to wonder whether we will be able to open our doors as planned once the remodel is completed.”

Fighting back

PC Sweeney, political director for EveryLibrary, a nonprofit that builds support for libraries and helps Americans fight book banning in their communities, told the Times-Standard that cuts to the IMLS will disproportionately affect rural communities like Humboldt County.

“I think the public needs to realize that libraries can’t defend themselves,” Sweeney said. “There is a general idea among the public that the librarians and library associations — ALA, state library associations, et cetera — are going to fight this off … The public needs to realize that they are going to have to fight this off, they’re going to have to take up the mantle and fight this back.”

He said that grassroots local community support has, in his experience, been crucial in defending library organizations imperiled by censorship, defunding and other issues.

Robert Schaulis can be reached at 707-441-0585.